CH 113

Gengsheng Town.

Li Nian stood blankly in front of the wonton stall. This time, there was no Fu Xingchuan by his side. Instead, he was replaced by several groups of official staff. The closed loop line was empty, and under the setting sun, the exposed steel and concrete looked like dusty bones.

The fog had cleared, and order in Gengsheng Town was gradually restored.

The situation of the elderly wasn’t optimistic. After such a loss, a little more than half were still resistant. The younger people were relatively better. According to a young girl, the previous state was “like a long dream”.

“No one thought this place was run down before.” She pointed to her own bakery. “We find it very comfortable and no different from a new area. The surroundings are the same too. We’ve never heard anyone say it’s dirty or old. It all looks perfectly normal.”

“It’s the same for attacking outsiders. I don’t know what’s going on, but I really feel that ‘everyone is like this’, ‘this is how things are done here’, and ‘they brought it upon themselves by coming into our territory’… At the time, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. I was just focused on the idea that once the ‘enemy’ was gone, we could go back to living our lives like before.”

The girl smiled awkwardly.

“Guilt? I feel a little of it occasionally… But everyone around me is like this, with strong conviction, so…”

But now they were awake.

This kind of sudden change in thinking could easily induce psychological problems, so relevant medical personnel took over. Li Nian was rubbing his voice recorder while taking detailed notes.

Over this small mountain town, there were still puzzles, like dark clouds.

The problem with the town itself could be explained by Shian’s existing theories.

Both evil beings and humans were affected by the perception of specific emotions. The perpetrator of the evil qi corruption was extremely powerful, such that it surpassed that of ordinary ability users, and the value of the remaining traces was close to that of half an Evil Spirit.

Coupled with Yellow Millet, who was good at influencing cognition and was used as a “megaphone”, it wasn’t impossible for the perpetrator to use his ability to cover the entire mountain town for a long time.

…The problem was that there was a serious issue with the identity records of the perpetrator.

One of the puzzles.

According to existing information, Shian only knew that the source of the disaster was a human, and the corruption was caused by Sunken Society. As for whether the perpetrator was a man or woman and where they came from, there were no records.

Not broken, not blank.

The metaphysical post could no longer see the words or hear the recording. While top science posts could still do it, they couldn’t get any information…

Li Nian clearly knew that there were relevant records, and those words were lying quietly there, but whenever he read the corresponding paragraph, his brain seemed to suddenly lose its ability to analyze information.

The knowledge flashed through his eyes and slid through his ears, but he couldn’t understand it.

Even if it could be logically inferred that “it’s related to the last mayor of the mountain town”, Li Nian’s attention would be diverted once he turned away.

This was probably a “cognitive distortion” of extremely abnormal intensity.

But the principle, where it came from, and the constant interference of attention were things that Li Nian couldn’t deduce.

It was dinner time at this moment. Li Nian was playing with the recorder, and his eyes unconsciously turned to the chopsticks in the hands of the owner of the wonton shop.

That was the second puzzle.

Not long after Unit 9 left, backup found the real Qi Xin in the abandoned mines. When she was discovered, Ms. Qi was dying and was transferred by Shian to a large hospital at the foot of the mountain.

The real Ms. Qi wasn’t seriously injured and woke up quickly. However, after waking up, she kept crying and didn’t recognize anyone or respond to anything.

While a nurse was getting her medication, Ms. Qi inserted a chopstick into her own heart.

There was no residual evil qi on her body, so Shian could only identify the incident as suicide.

Li Nian had personally drawn a portrait of the “Qi Xin” who acted with Unit 9 and the police quickly returned the results…

It was Anonymous who had been missing for several years.

The unnamed woman was in a car accident, and the hospital was barely able to save her life but couldn’t treat her brain trauma. While the hospital was looking for the woman’s family, the woman herself removed the ventilator she was on and disappeared one night.

Many years later, she appeared alone in a remote mountain town and devoured the unknown perpetrator.

Devour.

This was the testimony given by Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo, which also explained the strange distribution of corruption in their data.

…They hadn’t even settled accounts with Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo yet. If those two were really spies from some other organization, things would be much simpler.

Li Nian sighed and pinched his brows fiercely.

The situation was bizarre and outrageous, and the clues were pitiful. There were all kinds of incomprehensible situations and inexplicable traces in front of him. He vaguely recalled the events of 28 years ago, when the Divine Descent caused chaos everywhere.

As a result, Professor Li was just about to fall in reminiscence when his phone vibrated.

“Hello?”

He listened for a while.

“National joint exercise competition… Fu Xingchuan, have you finally gone crazy?”

“Isn’t this an opportunity delivered to our door? If Yin Ren is really… ahem, that person, dealing with this small situation is as easy as cutting vegetables. We can also keep an eye on Xiao Zhong, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone.”

Li Nian also pinched his brows red.

He understood Fu Xingchuan’s subtext.

Those two despicable guys were still officially classified as C-level, but they really couldn’t assign them C-level tasks. Special Operations Unit 8, which was actually C-level, had already dug through half of the city’s sewers.

Fu Xingchuan didn’t think that “investigating the sounds coming from the sewers in the middle of the night” could test anything. It was better to throw these two hot potatoes on a big stage to see what else they could do.

The national joint exercise competition gathered masters from all over the world. This was indeed a safer direction, but…

“Besides, the matter of Gengsheng Town won’t be finished for a while. It will be a long-term case.” On the other end of the line, Fu Xingchuan whispered devilishly. “Lao Li, people have limited energy, so we can’t just ignore it, right?”

“That being said…”

“Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo have spoken openly, and those two haven’t done anything bad for the time being, so we just need to be cautious. The priority is Sunken Society and that ‘Qi Xin’,” Fu Xingchuan continued to persuade.

Li Nian: “……”

Li Nian: “Do you just want to find a few top non-science posts to suffer with you?”

Fu Xingchuan: “Fuck off. This is official business.”

Professor Li snorted openly, with no intention of hiding it.

“All right,” he said. “If Yin Ren’s identity is true, then Sunken Society would have less interest in him and Zhong Chengshuo. It might be better to let them go on stage.”

Perhaps it could even lure out a few evil spirits.

……

In the distant city of Haigu, the two people who knew nothing about their upcoming fate.

Yin Ren’s lips slowly left the corner of Zhong Chengshuo’s mouth.

Zhong Chengshuo pursed his lips like a clamshell. His ears had turned red all the way to his neck. He seemed surprised by his own intense reaction and took a quick step towards the fridge, grabbing a glass jar and pressing it hard against his neck to cool down.

“Don’t you want special treatment?” Yin Ren approached him happily.

“Come on, let’s do it again…”

But when he saw what was inside the jar, Yin Ren’s smile slowly faded.

A head of an evil spirit with a solid entity was floating in the glass jar. Its protruding single eye happened to drift over to their side, and the brownish-yellow liquid contrasted with the pale red skin, causing quite a visual impact.

My god, help.

Lord Ghost King watched Zhong Chengshuo roll the glass jar around his neck and carefully put it back into the fridge. Finally, he dug out a can of apple juice from the pile of evil creature specimens and asked, “Do you want a drink?”

Yin Ren: “No… How amazing, Zhong Ge. I’ll drink it. I’ll drink it.”

He almost subconsciously said “no”.

Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes had a rare sparkle in them, and he swiftly set up a chair as he said, “You rest here. I’ll take care of the problem.”

It was rare to see Zhong Chengshuo act so easily and happily.

It would be better if that chair wasn’t the one that he used to tie up Guo Laifu. Yin Ren recognized the torture char in Guo Laifu’s memories at a glance, and his inner panic took a sharp turn.

He held the juice solemnly with both hands and couldn’t help but ponder for a few seconds whether the “problem” that Zhong Chengshuo was going to solve was himself.

But he also felt that this person was very cute, which meant he must have gone crazy. Ah, perhaps this was a manifestation of an Evil Spirit… 

There were no outsiders in the basement, so Yin Ren spread his wings on the ground, watching Zhong Chengshuo wade through the sea with one foot deep and the other shallow.

“Give me the phone.” He stretched out his hand.

Dog Thing instantly came back from the dead and shook wildly. “Woof, woof, woof!!!”

“Puff, puff, puff!” Yellow Millet, who was tied to the phone, also shrank back in horror.

Zhong Chengshuo ignored them and shook his hamster keychain. “Or maybe you can take that hamster keychain off and give it to me separately.”

Dog Thing suddenly became quiet, and the ornament kept shaking, pretending to be just another innocent phone accessory.

Yin Ren was taken back.

“This was the first gift you gave me,” Zhong Chengshuo said solemnly. “It has strong evil qi on it. Did you give it to me to ward off evil spirits?”

“…Yes.” Yin Ren was in a daze.

It was obviously not long ago, but at this moment, it felt like that was from a previous life. At that time, he thought that this “boy next door” was just a simple layman.

Yin Ren removed the little hamster with “Blessing and Luck” written on it and put it in Zhong Chengshuo’s palm.

It joined Zhong Chengshuo’s “Wealth and Prosperity” model, and both were placed in the center of the workbench.

Zhong Chengshuo moved quickly, like an assembly line. He walked around the shelves and collected a pile of strange and peculiar tools, gathering them in his arms. Comrade Xiao Zhong was precise, as if his arms were mechanical, as they pinched and carved the two poor hamsters.

Yin Ren watched with a slight pang of heartache—if this person had a bit of metaphysical talent, he would definitely be a top spirit smith.

In less than half an hour, Yin Ren hadn’t finished drinking his apple juice yet, and the hamster with “Blessing and Luck” had met its end. The other hamster with “Wealth and Prosperity” was hung back on its owner’s phone by Zhong Chengshuo.

The appearance of the two hamsters was intact. Except for the more refined coating, no other traces of modification could be seen.

“Okay.” Zhong Chengshuo took off the magnifying glass, normally used to repair watches, from his right eye. “Regarding the conflict between you and me, this is my ‘answer’.”

Yin Ren dangled the hamster in a festive color scheme. Yellow Millet, who was on one side, quickly changed itself into the same golden-red color scheme, which looked extremely harmonious.

“This is?”

“Emergency positioning communicator.”

Zhong Chengshuo cleaned up the workbench like a tornado.

“We can check each other’s position at any time. If there is an emergency, just pull it off the phone, and the other side will receive an alarm.”

“The other side?” The former Celestial Master was stunned.

“It works both ways. If you encounter danger, you can call me at any time.” Zhong Chengshuo looked confused. “Is there a problem?”

“No.”

Yin Ren gripped the hamster so tightly that, incidentally, Yellow Millet became slightly deformed.

“I just like you a little bit more.”

Zhong Chengshuo’s hand stopped, causing the tools in his arms to click lightly as he stared at Yin Ren intently. The red that had just chilled down had a huge resurgence.

After a few moments, he hesitantly put away his tools and walked up to Yin Ren.

The positions of the two were reversed compared to when they were fighting at home. This time, Yin Ren was being circled in the torture chair and had to raise his head.

Zhong Chengshuo, with a solemn face, slowly lowered his head, inching his face closer. When he was about to touch Yin Ren, his movements stopped subtly for a second.

“Chu.”

He gently kissed the corner of Yin Ren’s mouth, with a few tentative pecks. The next moment, without waiting for Yin Ren to see his expression, Zhong Chengshuo instantaneously moved to the front of the refrigerator.

Yin Ren: “……”

Yin Ren rubbed his face. “I want a glass jar too. Do you have any more?”

Zhong Chengshuo generously gave him a specimen jar. Yin Ren tried his best to ignore the five-legged spider in the jar.

Two people were holding a glass jar as the air around them solidified for a few seconds.

“You didn’t bring me here just to change a keychain, right?” After all, this kind of thing could be done at home.

Yin Ren put down the cold jar and touched the corner of Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes. The latter narrowed his eyes in response and let Yin Ren’s fingertips slide over.

“Nn.”

Zhong Chengshuo took off his glasses.

“I want to, um, invite you to join my research. I have been studying this topic for more than ten years. Now it seems that it is also closely related to you.”

“What subject?” Yin Ren’s wings swept across Zhong Chengshuo’s calf, making a swishing sound, encouraging him to continue.

Zhong Chengshuo’s gaze moved along Yin Ren’s facial features. It brushed past his hair and stopped on the information wall that was full of red lines behind Yin Ren.

“Divine Descent,” he replied.

The author has something to say:

Let’s continue with the main storyline! …Actually, each arc is the main storyline _(:з”∠)_

They really are a stupid couple!

Xiao Yin: Hehe, isn’t it just dating? I have read 10,000 removed novels. I’m an elder and definitely won’t have any…

Xiao Yin: Thank you for the glass jar.

——Some trivia that no one cares about (?)——

Q: Why doesn’t Xiao Zhong put apples in the refrigerator?

A: Because apple juice has a longer shelf life than apples——